This invention relates to golf clubs, and more particularly, to a golf club having a neck portion or "hosel" that has selected portions of the hosel outer wall material removed, resulting in a plurality of depressions formed in the hosel wall.
In the golf club art, it is known to form a clubhead with an integral hosel or neck portion. The hosel has an internal bore hole that may extend either the entire length of the hosel (i.e., a "throughbore"), or only a portion of the hosel (i.e., a "blind bore"). The hosel is formed at an angle with respect to the bottom, or "sole" of the clubhead. This angle is referred to as the "lie" of the club. The hosel bore hole receives an end portion of the shaft of the golf club. Often times, both the hosel bore hole and the end of the shaft are tapered somewhat. The shaft is secured to the clubhead within the hosel by means such as pins or adhesives. It is critical that the means employed in securing the shaft to the clubhead within the hosel be of high integrity to withstand relatively large torsional strains placed thereon due to the impact of the golf ball with the clubhead, which extends laterally out from the vertical axis of the shaft.
In the early part of the twentieth century, golf clubs were constructed with metal heads and wooden shafts. The wooden shafts were secured within bores in the hosels of the clubheads by adhesives, and often times reinforced by one or more transverse pins. Relative to modern-day hosels, these early hosels were much longer in order to provide a satisfactory joint between the shaft and head. The early hosels also had a much larger outside diameter because wooden shafts had a significantly larger diameter than modern-day metal or composite shafts. In the early hosels, holes were drilled clear through the hosel material to facilitate placement of pins into or through the wooden shaft. Further, slots were formed clear through the hosel on the premise that the wooden shaft would swell over time into the slots, thereby helping to secure the shaft to the hosel. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,266,529 to Mattern.
These early hosels also oftentimes had horizontal or spiral rings or grooves formed in the hosel outer surface. These grooves, or "knurlings" were formed continuously around the hosel outer surface and were made by compressing the hosel material inward toward the shaft, often by forging. This put pressure on the wooden shaft to aid in securing the shaft within the hosel. Over time, the knurlings also took on an ornamental or decorative look and purpose. It is to be noted, however, that these knurlings merely redistributed the hosel material or mass by compressing it inward toward the shaft, and did not remove the mass. It has long been recognized that the hosel represents an undesirable weight or mass placement on the clubhead. This is why modern clubheads have hosels that are relatively smaller in diameter and shorter in length as compared to the prior art.
The horizontal grooves in the early hosels, whether serving an ornamental or functional purpose or both, tended to weaken the hosel material. Over time under the repeated stress of impact of the clubhead with the ball and turf, the grooves caused a localized area of stress (i.e., a "stress riser"). This prompted the hosel and/or the shaft to catastrophically fail by fracturing at the junction of the shaft and hosel.
The early hosels also often had compressed vertical depressions formed in the shape of "nicks" at the top of the hosel. These nicks helped to secure the shaft to the clubhead, similar to the horizontal grooves. See the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 1,266,529 to Mattern.
The early prior art recognized the problem with the relatively large and long hosels. One known attempt to reduce the size and weight of the hosel is described in British Patent Specification No. 371974 to Renwick. Therein, it was taught to taper the hosel diameter in a decreasing amount toward the top of the hosel. The stated purpose was to make the hosel progressively weaker and lighter, thereby transferring the impact forces gradually to the shaft. The premise was that the tapered portion would flex somewhat, to help prevent fracture. Also, abrupt cross-sectional diameter dimensional changes would be avoided, thereby reducing stress points.
Additional problems with these early hosels were that the holes in the hosel allowed the adhesive to seep out of the hosel and further allow moisture to invade the wooden shaft, thereby degrading the integrity of the connection. Also, the wooden shaft tended to dry out and shrink in warmer temperatures, creating a loose fit of the shaft within the hosel. The loose fit permitted a large amount of torsional forces at impact of the clubhead with the ball to be absorbed by the pin. Over time, this caused cracks in the shaft.
Later, when metal shafts were developed, it was still known to pin the shaft to the hosel. It was further known to form slots clear through the hosel material to provide resiliency to the aforementioned torsional force at impact of the clubhead with the golf ball. The slots were formed on the hosel below the point where the pin was located. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1892482 to Cash, Jr. As taught in this patent, the shaft was not fixedly attached to the hosel below the pin. Instead, the shaft was allowed to swivel to a limited extent with respect to the hosel. In such a connection, the pin absorbed the major portion of the torsional force at impact of the clubhead with the ball.
Alternatively, it is known in the more modern art to design a clubhead with no hosel whatsoever. This is true for clubs of the "metal-wood" type. The no-hosel design entirely removes the weight of the hosel and allows the weight to instead be placed in the clubhead, where it may be more desirable and beneficial.
The no-hosel design is not without its drawbacks, however. Eliminating the hosel largely reduces the amount of area available inside the clubhead for bonding to the outside of the shaft. This causes problems over time due to the aforementioned torsional strain placed on the interface of the clubhead with the shaft. In the no-hosel design, this large amount of torsional strain is distributed along a much smaller amount of the tip of the shaft. Such large amount of strain may exceed the strength of materials used on some composite shafts.
Another problem with the no-hosel design lies in the fact that a different sensation, or "feel", is experienced by the golfer when the club is swung. In other words, the golfer tends to perceive that the balance of the club is "off" (i.e., is much different than what the golfer is accustomed to using with a traditional clubhead having a hosel).
A further problem with the no-hosel design is that the shaft of the club has lost some of its normal "kick" or spring. This is because the shaft designers attempt to build up the walls of the shaft, or they insert other materials in the tip of the shaft to protect the shaft from breaking off at the clubhead.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a golf club having a head with an integral hosel or neck portion having an internal bore hole for receiving an end portion of a shaft, and having selected portions of the hosel wall material surrounding the bore hole removed to reduce the weight or mass at the hosel portion.
It is a general object of the present invention to simultaneously reduce the weight of a hosel and redistribute the weight to the remainder of the clubhead where it is more beneficial.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a reduced-weight hosel with ample inner surface material to allow for proper adherence of the shaft within the hosel, thus allowing for proper and adequate support of the shaft within the hosel.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a hosel that allows a golf club manufacturer to use a normal golf club shaft that does not require the clubhead end of the shaft to be reinforced before the shaft is inserted into the hosel.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a hosel that provides for proper "feel" and "balance" of the golf club to a golfer as the club is swung.
The above and other objects and advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent when the following description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.